Home-schooled children are more academically advanced than public and private school students, on average, according to a new study from Canada’s Fraser Institute.
In Canada and the United States, home-schooled students’ average test scores rank higher than either public- or private-schooled students. Statistics using percentiles to rank groups of students by performance show that:
Thus, although there is less Canadian research available, the academic performance of Canadian home-schooled students appears to be comparable to the U.S. experience.
Home-schooled students also surpass the national averages on both of the major college-entrance tests the ACT and the SAT.
Home schooling parents have above average levels of education. Among American parents who home school, 81 percent have studied beyond high school compared with 63 percent of parents nationwide. Interestingly, having at least one parent who is a certified teacher has no significant effect on the achievement levels of home-schooled students.
Source: Patrick Basham, Home Schooling: From the Extreme to the Mainstream, Public Policy Sources No. 51, Fraser Institute, 4th Floor, 1770 Burrard Street, Vancouver, B.C. Canada V6J 3G7, (604) 688-0221.
For text http://www.fraserinstitute.ca/publications/pps/51/homeschool.pdf
For more on Education http://www.ncpa.org/iss/edu/
FMF Policy Bulletin\27 November 2001
